He Hid Me Twelve Years and Paraded Her, So I Quit Both novel · Chapter 11 of 24

Chapter 11: Why He Did It

I dressed in the green dress because it was the only thing I had with me.

Jonah put on jeans and a white shirt, and he took my hand before we reached the door.

"I'll stay in the room," he said. "You talk. If you want me gone, say 'out.'"

"I want you in the room."

"That wasn't 'out,'" he said, and almost smiled.

I opened the loft door.

Everett stood in the hallway in a gray suit that looked slept in.

Lacey was beside him in a blue dress with her phone in her hand and her face drawn tight.

"I brought Lacey," he said. "I thought it might help to have someone you trust."

"Why would that help?"

"She's the one who said you'd been thinking about taking the Calloway job for months."

"I never said that," Lacey said, quickly.

"Lacey," Everett said, in the voice I knew, "don't start."

She went quiet and slid her phone into the pocket of her dress with the screen still lit.

I did not look at her.

I looked at him.

"What's the offer, Everett?"

He took a breath and put on the client smile.

"You come back. I put your name on the door of the vice president's office. Executive vice president, over Lacey. A raise of thirty percent. I take the statement down, issue a correction, and say it was a misunderstanding that got out of hand."

"And the ring?"

"I'll hold it until you're ready."

"And Calloway?"

"You give him thirty days' notice and he lets you go. It's a clean exit." His eyes slid to Jonah. "No hard feelings."

"I have hard feelings," Jonah said pleasantly.

"This isn't your conversation."

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